{"id":8601,"date":"2009-09-01T00:15:09","date_gmt":"2009-09-01T07:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=8601"},"modified":"2009-09-01T00:15:09","modified_gmt":"2009-09-01T07:15:09","slug":"my-healthcare-has-already-been-rationed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=8601","title":{"rendered":""My Healthcare Has Already Been Rationed""},"content":{"rendered":"

[My sincere thanks to Virginia Frederick for her permission to reprint this letter on “Alas.” –Amp]<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Senator Hutchinson.<\/p>\n

I am one of your Texas constituents that is \u201cunder-insured\u201d and I want to speak to you about health Care.<\/p>\n

I never thought I would be a statistic in this predicament\u2014my husband was a corporate soldier all his working life and we had great health insurance provided by our companies. But then my husband got Leukemia. He couldn\u2019t work and Cobra soon ended. Ironically he survived a bone marrow transplant and is now doing incredibly well\u2014and he has health insurance. His health insurance comes through Medicare–it is a great program.<\/p>\n

But I am not eligible for Medicare\u2014I have 7 years to go. I was offered a job in the local school 3 years ago\u2014but had to turn it down when my husband\u2019s condition took a turn and I had to become his full-time caregiver. Now they don\u2019t even respond to my applications\u2014and I am sure I don\u2019t have to tell you about the job market for 58 year olds. So I have to get individual health insurance.<\/p>\n

I am not stupid\u2014I have too much to lose if I have to go bankrupt–so I do have a high deductible HSA. But I learned a lot in the process of getting that policy. You see I had had a sports injury the year before we moved to Texas\u2014plantar fasciitis, an inflammation of connective tissue in the foot caused when I tried to learn skate-skiing.<\/p>\n

What I found out was this:<\/p>\n